Integrated spatial and transport policies are bound to sustainability. A special role is given to public transport, as it - among the modes of ecomobility - serves as a conceptional back-bone at the regional level, and as it - due to its limited flexibility - is particularly dependent on the design of the settlement system. This paper shows with a regional case study that even under the condition of spatial change (here: urban sprawl) the composition of the spatial and transport system is so permanent (persistent) that without renunciation of road investments the system will not become more sustainable, that each mode of ecomobility serves a spatially different role, and that regionally efficient settlement control is indispensable to support this. As public scope of action remains to be limited, integrated spatial and transport policies will tend to asset orientation.